In this age of smartphones, the world is set in your palm. Whether it is to read the latest headlines, find your way around the city, or place an online order, mobile apps have become inherent to our daily lives. But when, on an average, a user downloads more than 40 apps on their phone, how does a mobile marketer ensure that his business app does not become redundant to the user?
Mobile applications create a direct marketing channel between the business and its customers. Although introducing an app ensures that you have won half of the battle, a mobile marketer needs to continue fighting through the pile of forgotten apps to stay on top of the mind of customers. That is when, companies turn to push notifications.
Push messages enable businesses to directly engage with the customers by sending them timely reminders about products, services and offers. With the point of sale moving from shops to e-stores, brands are adapting to the changing needs of their customers. Conventional strategies such as ad spaces in local newspapers and television commercials, which are both costly and time-consuming, are making way for new engagement strategies such as push notifications. These real-time alerts flashed on the device show higher engagement and retention.
E-mails vs SMS vs Push notifications
Until recently, marketers have used promotional e-mails and SMS to send out information to their customers. However, with the increasing use in smartphones, companies need to evaluate the best communication method. While all three modes
of communication enable companies to send out messages to a large customer base, the benefits and the cost involved in using these tools vary.
E-mails tend to be long, are time-consuming and complicated. In comparison, push notifications are easy to manage. Simple messages can be delivered quickly, which makes it user-friendly and effective. On the other hand, while sending out SMS and push messages may seem similar, the latter won’t burn a hole in your pocket. Also, since users have control over the notifications they receive, it is considered less intrusive and is often not treated as spam.
Lastly, unlike e-mails and SMS, push notifications have proven to be more interactive. Users can directly launch the mobile app to get more information about the message. Push notifications are also time sensitive and restricted to a word limit. Therefore, they are more effective, as the reminders sent out are brief and interesting to ensure that they retain the user’s attention.
Benefits of including push notifications
More and more businesses are now including push notifications into their market strategies. There are many advantages of using this feature in your mobile app, the topmost being engaging with your customers and increasing the online traffic on your website.
Location-based notifications
Companies can adopt a segmentation process and can send out location-specific messages to target a particular audience. Businesses can easily customise push notifications to ensure that the messages are relevant and important to the user.
In a flash
Whether it is the launch of a new product, a limited period offer, or a last minute change in an event, push notifications can swiftly communicate messages to the customers.
Promotional offers
Users do not have to open the app every time to keep an eye out for promotional offers. Push notifications act as complementary communication channels to mobile apps by popping an alert on the user’s screen.
Insight into customer behaviour
Push notifications let companies track and monitor customer behaviour by studying the interaction times, situations where the customers use theapp, and the open rate. This gives companies a better insight into the customer’s behaviour pattern, thus helping in creating a better brand experience.
Universal Appeal
The feature is not merely limited to mobile devices. Applications installed on tablets and laptops can send out push notifications.
As a mobile marketer, it is important to limit the frequency of push notifications. Another golden rule to be followed is to avoid irrelevant content. Sending push notifications may seem one-dimensional, but it stays in line with the conversational approach adopted by most marketers. Notifications direct customers back to the mobile apps, thus making users more receptive. So sign up with Putti and start enhancing the way you interact with your custome